Vladimir Kazimirovich Ignatovich
(17.08.1937 – 14.09.2020)
The Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics regrets to announce that after a serious illness Vladimir Kazimirovich Ignatovich, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, an outstanding theoretical physicist, one of the world's leading and world-class experts in the physics of ultracold neutrons, a researcher from God, a great connoisseur of quantum mechanics, who made a significant contribution to the physics of condensed matter, passed away. He was unique in his non-standard approach to the problems under study with lack of "respect" for authorities and a virtuoso mastery of the mathematical tools technique.
V.K. Ignatovich graduated with honors from the Physics Department of the Moscow State University with a degree in nuclear physics and in 1962 entered the graduate school of the Physics Institute of the Academy of Sciences, from where in 1965 he went to work at the Laboratory of Theoretical Physics in the sector of Dmitry Ivanovich Blokhintsev. All this time he was engaged in research in high energy physics.
In 1968, at the invitation of the Deputy Director in scientific work Fyodor Lvovich Shapiro, Vladimir Kazimirovich began working at the Laboratory of Neutron Physics. His first work, devoted to the possibility of measuring the dipole moment of an atom, was a bridge from purely fundamental high-energy physics to a wide range of problems in neutron physics, where he was able to clearly demonstrate his original talent as a researcher.
V.K. Ignatovich, fruitfully working at FLNP, went from an engineer to a leading researcher. He defended his Ph.D. thesis in 1976, being a mature and recognized specialist. Thirty years later he defended his doctoral dissertation in one area of his research; he had several of them and everywhere there were results required for the defense. Vladimir Kazimirovich repeatedly received the first JINR prizes in nuclear physics and condensed matter physics.
Having come to work at FLNP, he immediately became actively involved in research on the physics of ultracold neutrons, just discovered by a group of young experimenters headed by F.L. Shapiro. The results of Ignatovich's work in this area, obtained in close cooperation with experimenters, are reflected in his monograph "Ultracold Neutrons", which has become a classic. It has been translated into foreign languages and is a teaching and reference tool for theoreticians and experimenters in many countries of the world. In subsequent years, Vladimir Kazimirovich obtained significant results in the theory of scattering and reflection of polarized slow neutrons, summarized in the monograph "Neutron Optics".
During the last years of his life, he paid much attention to fundamental issues of quantum mechanics and electrodynamics. His daring and unconventional approach to these problems did not always evoke an adequate response from specialists, who often thoughtlessly use the traditional interpretation of known results. The decisive debate about who is right in these disputes will be decided by future researchers.
Vladimir Kazimirovich, as a recognized authority, was invited to lecture at neutron centers in Japan, the USA and European countries. He had a bright talent as a teacher. For many years he ran a circle in physics for schoolchildren in Dubna, lectured at the Department of Neutronography of the Moscow State University and at the JINR University Centre, actively spoke at seminars at JINR laboratories, and supervised diploma theses. His participation in FLNP seminars was always accompanied by apt questions and clarifying remarks that allowed him to get to the very essence of the issues discussed.
We will greatly miss our friend and colleague Vladimir Kazimirovich Ignatovich - a bright and fruitful scientist, an honest uncompromising person and citizen, a father of three sons and a kind family man.